1981 Chevrolet Corvette - The Ultimate Survivor

Ron Desmedt's Ultra-Low-Mileage '81 Isn't A Star From The Popular TV Show

The two-tone paint job indicates that Ron DeSmedt's '81 survivor was one of the 8,995 built in Bowling Green that year.

It was 1981 when Pope John Paul II and then-President Ronald Reagan were both wounded by gunmen; Anwar al-Sadat was assassinated; Pacman-mania swept the country; and Christopher Cross won 3 Grammies, with his song, "Sailing," voted Song of the Year. CB radios were still enormously popular with thousands of motorists "10-4ing" their "good buddies" on the highways and byways of America.

Corvettes were being built both in St. Louis and at the new facility in Bowling Green, Kentucky, as the year began. The first Kentucky-built unit rolled off the line in June, while St. Louis manufacturing was phased out in August. St. Louis-built units were mostly solid color cars using traditional lacquers, while Bowling Green built two-tone units using the new enamel-type paint with clearcoat finishes.

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The rakish Shark lines gave the '81 Corvette its bold good looks, which undoubtedly helped sell a tad over 40,000 copies of it.

No engine options were offered in 1981, since the 185hp, 350ci block had finally garnered California certification. Available transmissions were the four-speed manual or the automatic, and Chevrolet's "computer command control" that automatically adjusted engine timing and air/fuel mixture was now standard equipment on all models.

Weight reduction remained a key design factor. A fiberglass monoleaf rear spring weighing only eight pounds was introduced, and all '81 valve covers were made of lightweight magnesium. The antitheft alarm system had an ignition interrupt added to prevent engine startup, and the speedometer's top calibration mark was 85 mph.

It's safe to say that 1981 wasn't exactly Corvette's finest year. But that certainly didn't stop 40,606 people from plunking down their hard-earned cash to buy one, and at a base price of $16,258.52, they weren't exactly cheap.

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The flip-lip of the rear deck was intended to be a quasi-spoiler, but the body was basically unchanged from the preceding year.

Ron DeSmedt, owner of the Contemporary Corvette boneyard in Bristol, Pennsylvania, got a call one day from a fellow who said his sister had an '81 Corvette with 800 original miles on it, and she wanted to sell it. Ron thought this was just another one of those tall stories you hear when people are trying to unload a car and get top dollar for it. As it turned out, however, the woman's husband had passed away the previous year, and every time she saw the car it evoked a lot of emotion and memories for her; she was trying to move on with her life, so she thought selling the car was a good first step.

Ron felt the asking price was higher than it should have been for an 80,000-mile Vette but lower than it should have been for an 800-mile vehicle. Long story short, his curiosity was piqued, so he decided to check out the car. When he did, he found that this car was, indeed, the real deal. The widow had all the original paperwork, including the window sticker, manuals, and so forth. Ron connected a jumper box to the battery and the car started right up. He learned that the lady's husband had purchased the Corvette from its original owner in 1991 with 500 miles on it at the time. When he first bought the car, the couple took it on a trip to the shore and back, logging about 300 additional miles on the clock. After that, the car was only taken out locally for a couple of oil changes, racking up about nine additional miles each time.

Ron acquired the car in 2006 and originally thought about selling it at Carlisle, but he decided to keep it. Aside from the rare short jaunt now and then when there's reason to take it out (such as for this photo shoot), he has kept it pretty much under wraps to preserve its survivor status.

MORE PHOTOS

The two-tone paint job indicates that Ron DeSmedt's '81 survivor was one of the 8,995 built in Bowling Green that year.

The rakish Shark lines gave the '81 Corvette its bold good looks, which undoubtedly helped sell a tad over 40,000 copies of it.

The flip-lip of the rear deck was intended to be a quasi-spoiler, but the body was basically unchanged from the preceding year.

Profile: The fender-top bulges and swooping nose with front spoiler are evident when viewed in profile.

Rear Deck: The holes in the rear deck accommodate the roof panel carrier, which was a $135 option this car was ordered with but never used.

Plastic Bag: The top carrier rack is still in its original sealed and unopened plastic bag with the instruction sheet.

Leather Seats: There are no creases in the Saddle leather seats, providing additional provenance to the survivor status of the vehicle.

862: On the day of our photo shoot, the odometer read 862 original miles. We added about five additional miles driving it back to Contemporary Corvettes where Ron houses the car. Note the 85-mph speedo.

CB Radio: The CB radio sports an auto-reverse cassette deck - the cat's meow of Corvette audio options for 1981.

Documents: All of the original documents that came with the car were included when Ron purchased it in 2006.

Door Panels: The deluxe carpeted door panels are as pristine as the day they were installed on the assembly line. The car still has that "new" smell when you open the doors.

Wheels: The slotted sport aluminum wheels were a nice touch, even if a bit expensive at $428.

Engine: Everything under the hood is original and unmolested as well, as evidenced by the inspection marks, stickers, and so on.

Quaker State: The car is extremely well-documented, right down to the oil-change stickers on the door.

Window Sticker: The original window sticker lists all the options and their associated costs.

Traces Of Inspection: This survivor still bears all of the original factory inspection marks and stickers applied in Bowling Green some 27 years ago.

Check out this symphony of Stingrays! Amazingly enough, you can see this virtuoso performance take place for the paltry sum of $7. That's price of admission for a tour of the Corvette assembly plant, established in 1981. For the purposes of this feature, we were treated to a somewhat more in-depth tour. » Read More